These two female professional poker players have been best friends for three years, and were also the last women standing in the World Series of Poker Championship Event in 2007 and 2008. From Vegas to Monte Carlo, the two have competed against the toughest fields across the world and hold their own playing for high stakes in a male-dominated sport.

Maria is currently ranked 33rd in the Top 100 Women's All Time Money list among poker players and finished 38th out of 6,358 people in the 2007 World Series of Poker Championship Event.

Tiffany, who is known throughout the poker community as "Hot Chips," fell into poker via Hollywood home games that she played with fellow actors while working in film and television. At the 2008 World Series of Poker Championship Event, Tiffany broke records when she finished 17th out of 6,844 players, the largest field ever conquered by a female in live tournament history.

Maria was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to the United States with her family when she was just four years old and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Maria graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication and a minor in law. When she is not busy traveling the poker tournament circuit, Maria enjoys singing with her sister's band, "Another Sky."

Born with a love for the stage and competition, Tiffany naturally found her way into competitive sports, pageants and the college Speech & Debate team. She got her start in theatre at the age of 10 and began performing and touring with shows across the country. A far departure from poker, Tiffany is a former beauty queen, having held the titles Miss Teen Newhall, Miss Teen Santa Clarita Valley and was a finalist in the Miss Teenage California where she was named Miss Congeniality.

As a team, these two are well traveled, extremely competitive, strong-minded, savvy players who can deal with any hand they are dealt. Even though they are known as two of the hottest young females in poker, they are willing to put pretty aside when it is time to battle it out.

Gosh, some of their language talents would have been great in TAR14! But the strategy they both have from their poker and "people reading" and the ability to "bluff" may be very good skills indeed in the race!

Female/female teams sometimes have a hard time in the tasks geared to a guy's upper body strength. I wish them both lots of luck, and will be SO excited to see them race!

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I'm really liking this team for now, they look like they have the brains to do this. And they mentioned that they're willing to put pretty aside, and not use their looks to flirt or something to that extent! Lol.

Neither won the WSOP Main Event, nor did they repeat as last woman standing.

Instead, the pair was cast on the 15th season of the award-winning CBS reality show The Amazing Race.

"Poker is something we do, but we don't want our lives to be driven by it," Michelle said. "When we first heard about it, it didn't take us long to say 'Heck yes, we want to do this.' Poker is always going to be around but The Amazing Race doesn't come around quite so often."

In the poker world, Ho and Michelle are famous for being the last female player surviving in poker's biggest event in consecutive years. Ho managed the feat in 2007 while Michelle made it even deeper in 2008.

When they got the call for The Amazing Race this summer, it quickly became apparent they would both have to miss the 2009 Main Event.

The decision was easy, according to Ho.

"I didn't give it a second thought," said Ho. "It was a little different for Tiffany, who was actually defending her title as last woman standing, but I hands-down wanted to be on the show. I'm glad we saw the big picture."

2008 WSOP Main Event last woman standing Tiffany Michelle.

It wasn't the first time that Michelle had been approached to do reality TV, but it was by far the best offer.

"After my run at the Main Event there were a lot of opportunities," said Michelle. "Obviously there are a lot of crummy reality shows, but getting to star in a multiple-Emmy winning show is an amazing opportunity."

As soon as Michelle and Ho received word they would appear on the show, they set about preparing for the journey by watching a number of the previous seasons and going over possible scenarios from a strategic point of view.

In other words, they approached the game as poker players.

"I watched the very first season and I was completely intrigued," said Michelle. "It's kind of the purest form of reality show. It's not a popularity contest and you don't get voted off. You compete hard or you go home."

"There's a strategy in any game," added Ho.

In an ironic twist, Ho and Michelle were cast as the only all-female team for Season 15 of The Amazing Race. No all-female team has ever won the show.

"Once again we were living the whole male-dominated dynamic of the poker world, but we were really excited to take this on together," said Michelle.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the show was the timing. Since filming began in the middle of the WSOP Main Event, both Ho and Michelle were required to be vague when talking to fellow poker players about their plans.

'There's strategy in any game.'

"You understand why they don't want people to ruin the surprise," said Ho. "We see it all the time in poker when everyone knows the result of the Main Event before it's shown on television."

Despite the distraction, Ho managed to put on an impressive poker performance in one of the last events she played this summer. She finished 11th for $41,040 in the prestigious $10,000 World Championship Limit Hold'em event.

"I was getting a lot of questions," Ho said. "It was hard because I didn't want to lie to anyone when they asked if I was playing the Main Event."

Now that their appearance is public knowledge, both Ho and Michelle say they knew all along there was more on the line then just their individual reputations.

"We really wanted to go out there and represent poker in the best way possible," said Ho. "Sometimes poker is shown in a negative light because of the gambling aspect and we wanted to change that."

Michelle went so far as to say they had something to prove and Ho agreed.

"We're pretty unique in the poker world because it's a male-dominated game and we wanted to prove that we are some kickass girls who are nice, but also really competitive," said Ho.

"We wanted to get away from the whole pretty girls playing poker thing and prove that we are gamers," added Michelle.

'Tiff is a badass chick.'

Although the pair weren't able to disclose any information on the actual Amazing Race experience, it's obvious the bond between them remains tight.

"Tiff is a badass chick," laughed Ho. "I got to see how that translated into the race first hand. She's an emotional person and I love her."

Michelle went on to say that whatever happened on the show they agreed to be very forgiving of each other.

"Our relationship is probably stronger now," added Ho.

With the show completed both girls suddenly have a plethora of new career options, but the siren call of the good old poker game seems to be strong.

"I miss being able to play poker," said Ho. "I'm not going to say that I'll play every tournament, but I obviously love it. I'm going to make my best efforts to play the Aruba Poker Classic and WPT Festa al Lago."

Michelle, having recently re-signed with sponsor Ultimate Bet, was a bit coy about her future prospects.

"At this point I think we have to go for either a presidential campaign or world domination," she joked.

On September 27th, the 15th installment of the CBS reality franchise “Amazing Race” will kick off at 8:00pm ET. Appearing will be professional poker players Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events, respectively. Michelle sat down with Poker News Daily to preview the season.

Poker News Daily: Congratulations on appearing on “Amazing Race.” Tell us how the opportunity came up.

Michelle: Maria Ho and I have been friends for a while and bonded even more recently. There was lots of talk of us doing a reality television show. We agreed that if we did anything, it’d be “Amazing Race.” We thought we’d be an interesting team. With the competition and challenge of the show, it’d be right up our alley. We could take our poker playing background and use it on “Amazing Race.” We had a chance to go through the casting process and were in Las Vegas playing tournaments when we got the call. It was definitely hard to head back to the tables during the WSOP knowing we’d be traveling the world soon.

PND: Had you watched previous seasons of “Amazing Race”?

Michelle: I hadn’t seen a full season, but saw the show on different occasions. It looked challenging and was out of my league. I think it looked fun.

PND: The cast features Harlem Globetrotters and a former Miss America. Talk about the competition that you’ll face on “Amazing Race.”

Michelle: We were surprised to learn that we were the only all-female team this season. We felt pressure to represent women and knew that no all-female team had ever won “Amazing Race.” We thought that our competition consisted of young, big, athletic people. That was going to be our weakness, but we knew that the race tests your mental and physical skills.

PND: Past seasons of “Amazing Race” have included stops in the four corners of the globe. Talk about being able to travel the world.

Michelle: It was a very life-changing experience. I live a wonderful and blessed life. I get to travel and stay in nice hotels. We have a life of luxury and don’t have to sweat it out. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, mentally and emotionally. I came home and had a whole new appreciation for my life. I feel like I’m so full after the experience.

PND: Talk about your relationship with Maria Ho.

Michelle: I wouldn’t have done “Amazing Race” without her. You have to trust and feel comfortable with your partner. I was excited to share this experience with her. We travel together on the poker circuit already. We’re 10 times closer now.

PND: Is there anything you can take away from Annie Duke’s appearance on “Celebrity Apprentice” that could have helped you on “Amazing Race”?

Michelle: “Celebrity Apprentice” is a different format than “Amazing Race.” You’re competing against different people on your own. On the race, you have a team. There’s not that direct competition and you have the opportunity to work together in a group. We wanted to represent poker well after what happened between Annie and Joan Rivers. We wanted to come off the best that we could. We wanted to play a clean game and give poker players a good name. Also for us, we’re controversial and wanted to show people a different side.

PND: You’re hosting a Hollywood premier of “Amazing Race” that will likely include Tammy and Victor, who won last season’s installment of the reality show. Did they provide any advice before you set out?

Michelle: We got to go to a Labor Day barbeque at Victor’s house. A lot of people who were on “Amazing Race” were there and you felt like a big family. These people know exactly what you went through. Within a few minutes of being there, I felt like I had known them forever. It’s wonderful being a part of something special.

PND: What preparations did you make before the show began filming?

Michelle: I ran out and bought running shoes. I got my cardio up because I knew there was a lot of running involved. Also, we learned how to drive a stick shift. Maria was much better than I was at that, so she was responsible. We watched past episodes and talked about them. We prepped for the unknown as much as we could. I got my butt in the gym and got in touch with the outdoors.

PND: You mentioned in a blog entry before you left that poker will always be around, but doing “Amazing Race” was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Was it hard walking away from this year’s WSOP Main Event to film?

Michelle: There wasn’t even a doubt in my mind that I wanted to do the show. What I did last year in the Main Event was amazing. As hopeful as I could be to repeat that, I was happy with that punctuation. The Main Event comes around every year and poker is always there. Not only was this an amazing challenge, but it was also an opportunity to be a part of an Emmy Award winning show. To get to do it with someone else sounded like a fun time

Please give Maria and Tiffany a chance, they are playing a game .. yes like BB, TAR is a game. And Maria ate 2 wasabi's, I felt her pain and she did it. I'm glad they were saved by the NEL, I can't imagine losing the only all female team so early. They also rocked the mud task and Tiffany kicked butt with the ducks and ended up finishing 6th place even with the speedbump, nice comeback girls